FM Jr.’s State of the Nation Address marked the start of the third year of his presidency, leaving behind two years of cumulative accomplishments and looking forward to another year until the end of his six-year term. Something along disciplinary lines must be pointed out in this much-applauded SoNA, one marked by standing ovations particularly near the end of the 80-minute speech.

These are FM Jr.’s patronizing words, viz.: “Thanks to Congress, the Public-Private Partnership, as a crucial funding mechanism for big-ticket projects, is now institutionalized by force of law. PPP is seen to facilitate strategic investments and the timely development of projects under our Build Better More program, especially since around one-fourth of our flagship projects have been envisioned to be funded through this modality.”

Citing the NAIA PPP as an example, he assured that it “will go down in our history not only as among the largest and fastest approved PPPs, but one that has set the bar in terms of openness, transparency, and competitiveness of the process.”

That said, future policy directions should be concretely translated into “benchmarks” to requisitely characterize every subsequent PPP, assuming that the Official Development Assistance as another major funding source has really played second fiddle.

FM Jr. further said: “Through this partnership, our foremost aerial gateway is now primed for a revitalization. Once considered among the worst and most stressful airports in the world, it will soon be a world-class international airport that we can be proud of.”

However, the terminal fee that a domestic or international traveler pays has increased almost five times and almost twice as before, respectively. How about other new rates or fee adjustments like take-off and landing fees that airline companies will pass on to the boarding public?

Again, he cited, viz.: “The UP-PGH Cancer Center is the first PPP to be approved in this administration. Together with the Philippine Cancer Center of the DoH, which broke ground last March, are two specialty hospitals that will soon join our nation’s fight against cancer. These centers will be a godsend to the more than 400,000 Filipinos who are afflicted with this deadly disease.”

Other major policy areas of FM Jr.’s speech which were markedly punctuated by applause, nay standing ovations, was when he announced the ban on POGOs effective that day although they must wind up by the end of the year. Put simply, the landscape next year will be totally free of all the garden variety crimes imputed to the operation of POGOS, albeit court-unresolved to date. Not surprisingly, the rabid anti-POGO senators claimed victory for this declared total ban.

From commanding heights, FM Jr. expressed the moral desideratum for the whole bureaucracy to go by, viz.: “We expect all agencies to ensure that every centavo allocated will be judiciously spent for our urgent priorities and socially impactful programs.”

Let no key bureaucrat nor high politician be deceived by the simplicity of that mantra but it must be the proper subject of a wide range of policies against misspending, corruption, project delays, fund embezzlement, piled “unfunded mandates” reflecting a Tragedy of the Commons.

Whenever warranted, projects or programs initiated by either the national or local government units must transcend territorial boundaries, cascading to as many end-users or beneficiaries as possible. Insofar as transport PPP is concerned, that is precisely what it envisioned in big-ticket infrastructure projects like a seaport, an airport, a railway.

In FM Jr.’s speech, it’s clear that he is generally biased for the economic benefits of whatever government intends to do. Indeed, he signed Republic Act 12009 to make government procurement modern and innovative, streamlined and efficient, truly at par with global best practices, thereby phasing out a 20-year-old law.

Let not PPPs otherwise showcase how project proponents are making “massive private gains at public loss,” even aggravated by ballooning government debt hitting the fan.

Make end-users’ fees reasonable throughout the concession period, please.